Wallace G. Smith

In our world, science and the Bible seem constantly pitted against each other, and it is true that there certainly are outstanding questions to be resolved. But many such “conflicts” are illusions, arising either from misunderstanding the scientific data or from failing to understand the truth of God’s word.

If you listen to the right people—or, perhaps more accurately, the wrong people—you may have heard that in December of this year mankind will either experience the end of the world or the dawn of a new age.

The late Carl Sagan, renowned astronomer and cosmologist, famously began his acclaimed book Cosmos with a sweeping statement: “The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be.” And the grandeur we see as we point our telescopes outward can cause us to feel humbled by such lofty declarations.

Osama bin Laden—reported dead last May after a United States Navy SEAL team raided his headquarters in Abbottabad, Pakistan—lived by the sword, and he died by the sword (cf. Matthew 26:52). Upon learning of his death, many in the U.S. expressed joy that the wrath bin Laden stored up in his acts of mass murder had finally been delivered back to him.

It was not the front page headline of that day's Wall Street Journal, but its message deserves the attention of all Americans who currently enjoy their way of life.  In Kelly Evans' small column deep within that paper on February 17, 2011, the title concisely explained what most Americans do not yet understand: "A Standard-of-Living Shock Is the Danger."